The Never-Ending Search

Do you spend a lot of time checking the same products on eBay and Amazon.com? If so, a new software application might make life easier. Pluck Perch, from an Austin, Texas-based company automates tasks such as price checking and pushes e-commerce updates to you.

The word Perch in the product's name stands for "persistent search," which aptly describes what the application does. Essentially, it works like an RSS reader for Amazon.com and eBay (or you can do persistent Google or MoreOver searches, and get RSS feeds). You set up folders that appear in Internet Explorer, which Pluck Perch lives inside, and the folders contain search criteria, such as "Green iPod."

Then, the application, a free download at www.pluck.com , regularly checks the eBay and Amazon.com sites for your item. If it is there, it pulls the Web page into a folder and alerts you. You click on a link to make the purchase.

"It can also alert you to price changes," notes Dave Panos, Pluck's CEO, so if you are waiting for a green iPod to reach a certain price threshold at eBay, you'll know when it does.

Pluck partnered with eBay, Amazon.com, and other sites so that whenever you purchase a product through Perch, Pluck gets paid. As a background electronic-shopping agent, and as a search engine monitor, it seems to have useful applications.

Sebastian Rupley is Editorial Director for PCMagCast, PC Magazine's channel for live Web seminars and online events on tech topics for consumers and small businesses. Previously, he was West Coast Editor of PC Magazine for over a decade, where he oversaw news and feature stories for the publication, and represented the brand on panels and at conferences on the West Coast. He also served as Features Editor of PC/Computing magazine, managing and promoting many noted technology journalists.
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